Geroscience luminary, Dr. Nir Barzilai, appointed President of the Academy for Health and Lifespan Research

NEW YORK, April 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Academy for Health and Lifespan Research (AHLR), the leading organization comprised of the world's most esteemed scientists dedicated to studying the mechanisms of aging and developing interventions to slow and reverse the process, today announced that Nir Barzilai, M.D. (@nirbarzilaiMD) will serve as its new President, effective immediately. 

Co-founder and board member at the AHLR, Barzilai has been elected to lead by fellow members of the Academy, all of whom are geroscience experts with distinguished leadership roles in the field.

"The Academy sought a President who was strong, yet flexible; someone with the ability to lead through difficult times and inspire bold action when opportunity arises, while also having both independent vision as well as a collective vision and desire to help others," said Dr. David Allison, AHLR member and Dean of the Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington. "Professor Nir Barzilai is such a person. His vision and ambitions are bigger than himself and we look forward to him serving as President for all of us." 

Dr. Nir Barzilai is a preeminent leader in geroscience, who has studied the genetics of exceptional longevity in humans and the biology of aging in model organisms and their targets. He is currently leading an international effort to secure approval of the safe usage of drugs targeting aging, in line with his work on his Targeting Aging with Metformin (TAME) study, conceived to get FDA approval on the use of a single drug preventing a cluster of age-related disease.

Barzilai serves as the director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and is also the Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert Chair of Aging Research, professor in the Departments of Medicine and Genetics, and the Director of the National Institutes of Health's Nathan Shock Centers of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging. He is the Scientific Director and a member of the board of directors of the American Federation for Aging Research, where he co-leads its biomarker effort (FAST), TAME, and the Super Agers initiative. 

He is an Executive of the Longevity Biotech Association, serves on the council of the Healthy Longevity Medicine Society and is the author of more than 320 papers, as well as the best-selling book, Age Later: Health Span, Life Span, and the New Science of Longevity.

About AHLR:
The Academy for Health and Lifespan Research (AHLR) is a non-profit organization founded in 2019, dedicated to advancing aging research, supporting scientists, advising on public policy, and fostering collaboration. By uniting the world's leading scientists, laboratories, academic institutions, and drug companies, AHLR strives to encourage breakthroughs in longevity research that are accessible to all. 

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SOURCE Academy for Health & Lifespan Research